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Long road back to Mankato for Todd Hoffner

MANKATO, Minn. — The worst part was the night in jail. Todd Hoffner will never forget those hours when his life was wrenched violently sideways, then turned upside down and shaken until everything threatened

Long road back to Mankato for Todd Hoffner

MANKATO, Minn. — The worst part was the night in jail. Todd Hoffner will never forget those hours when his life was wrenched violently sideways, then turned upside down and shaken until everything threatened to shatter. "It absolutely crushed me," he says, and does not need to explain further.

But one moment in particular might linger forever. During processing, he was led into a room. A photograph was taken.

"Right then, I knew it was gonna be a long road back," Hoffner says.

Last week Hoffner's journey finally led back to his old job, if not yet to normalcy. Twenty months after he was suspended, then arrested on felony child pornography charges — and almost 17 months after he was cleared of them — he returned as head football coach at Minnesota State-Mankato.

Reclaiming his former life, however, isn't that simple, on so many levels. While he's ready to "move forward" — in this southern Minnesota community, this is the buzz phrase of the moment — Hoffner also understands: "It's never gonna be exactly the same."

All of these months later, as he remembers when that mug shot was snapped, he recalls that he understood then, even if he had "no clue what was going on," that the night in jail was only the first part. He knew the photo would become his image. And he wonders:

"Why can't people can't take their mug shot in the clothes they (wore) into the facility? … I mean, because in this society we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, and wearing an orange jumpsuit is association with guilt."

Hoffner is wearing a purple half-zip emblazoned with the Minnesota State-Mankato logo. He's eating a roast beef sandwich, the signature dish at Jonny B's, a sports bar a stone's throw from campus. He's doing familiar things at a familiar place, hoping to settle back into a routine that once seemed to have been lost forever.

He knows it won't be easy. Last week, after returning to the job from which he was fired — wrongly, according to an arbitration ruling earlier this month — he immediately had to deal with a boycott of spring practice by players who were upset over the abrupt coaching change. But compared to what he's been through?

"I can handle it," he says.

***

In four seasons at Minnesota State-Mankato, Hoffner had built a winning football program. As the 2012 season neared, it appeared the Mavericks might be on the verge of bigger success.

But when Hoffner turned in his broken BlackBerry for repair, a school technician discovered three brief videos of naked or partially clothed children. A few days later, Hoffner was pulled away from a preseason practice by athletic director Kevin Buisman and informed he was being placed on paid administrative leave, though he wasn't told why.

Four days after that, he was arrested and charged with two felonies: using minors in a sexual performance or pornographic work and possession of child pornography. He spent the night in jail. It was only the start.

The Hoffner saga roiled this pleasant community of about 50,000 about 80 miles southwest of Minneapolis. The city is largely known for its connection to Laura Ingalls Wilder (of Little House on the Prairie fame). Minnesota State-Mankato, with enrollment of around 16,000, might be best known as the preseason training home of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings. Now the community and school are also known for the Hoffner saga, which played out in the immediate aftermath of the scandal involving former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

The videos, which totaled 102 seconds, were of Hoffner's children. In dismissing the charges more than three months after his arrest, a judge described them as simply kids being "playful and silly." But for many, the mug shot of Hoffner crystallized the connection.

John Harrington, a longtime Mankato resident and Minnesota State-Mankato booster, told USA TODAY Sports at the time: "The damage is done. His reputation is tainted. On the tip of everybody's tongue is 'Sandusky.' "

Hoffner says he and his wife Melodee are grateful for the support from the community. Dennis Hood, a longtime Minnesota State-Mankato booster and former president of the Touchdown Club, which serves as the fund-raising arm for the football program, was one of those. He says as people began to learn more about the charges, the reaction from many was, 'Golly, is this all there is?'"

But Hood also says, "Right up until a couple of weeks ago (when the arbitrator ruled in Hoffner's favor), people were saying, 'There's got to be something. There's got to be something.' But there really wasn't."

In an unusual move, Hoffner testified in his own defense at a pre-trial hearing on Oct. 31, 2012. He said on an evening the previous summer, he had been "working on football stuff" in the family's living room while the three children, then ages 9, 8 and 5, took a bubble bath.

He testified that they came downstairs wearing towels and asked him to record a video, then dropped the towels and danced naked. He said his daughters were trying to put on some sort of skit, "singing and dancing and laughing, doing silly things, having fun," but his son was attempting to "sabotage" the performance. He added: "There's nothing inappropriate about any of those videos."

Coupled with the assessment of a Blue Earth County child protective services specialist, who said she did not find evidence of sexual abuse during interviews with Hoffner's children or when viewing the videos, Hoffner's testimony was powerful. A month later, Blue Earth County District Court Judge Krista Jass dismissed the charges, writing that the videos "contain nude images of Defendant's minor children dancing and acting playful after a bath. That is all they contain."

"They could have said, 'It's been tough, we welcome you back, you're our guy,' end of story — everybody just hugs and kisses," says Hood, who resigned from the Touchdown Club position last summer because of Hoffner's firing. "But that didn't happen."

Shortly after the charges were dismissed, Hoffner was placed on 20 days of unpaid suspension. Then he was reassigned to a newly created administrative role with an office on the other side of campus — and then, last May, he was fired for reasons that were undisclosed at the time.

According to the Mankato Free-Press, which viewed the 72-page report by the arbitrator earlier this month — the documents were not public, but were accessed while briefly available online — the school's reasons were that Hoffner had viewed pornography on a work-issued computer and had also allowed his wife to use the computer. Hoffner denied viewing porn; the arbitrator found the computer was accessible by several other people. The arbitrator also ruled that while Melodee Hoffner shouldn't have been allowed to use her husband's work computer, it wasn't grounds for firing.

The arbitrator ordered Minnesota State-Mankato to repay Hoffner, with interest, going back to the date of his firing. He ordered the school to reinstate Hoffner, if he wanted, or to pay the difference in his salary (approximately $105,800) if he worked elsewhere.

Hoffner had been hired in late January by Minot (N.D.) State, which hoped to revive a struggling football program. He says the family was down to its last few hundred dollars, that they had reached a point where "drastic steps" — meaning, a career change and the death of his dream to coach football again — were about to occur. But a $90,000 salary wasn't the reason, according to the Minot Daily News, he told players, "You don't know how freakin' good it feels." He told USA TODAY Sports he was grateful for the second chance.

"The bottom line is, there was no wrongdoing," he said then. "I was exonerated. In hindsight, it should never have happened, but that's the way it goes.

"I know it took Minot State a lot of guts to pull the trigger. I'm not gonna let 'em down."

But less than three months later, with the arbitrator's ruling, an even more unexpected opportunity arose.

"I can't tell you how hard and difficult the decision was (to leave Minot State)," he says. "I'm very grateful they gave me the opportunity to get a job, to do the passion in my profession."

***

Why would Hoffner go back? In a news conference, he said it was "simple," and spoke of how his family had put down roots in Mankato, and how from the very beginning, his goal was to regain his job — and his life.

"I had goals of being exonerated," he says, "and vindicated. Those were two things I wanted to see through. At no point in time did I ever not want my job back."

And he adds, echoing Hood's comments: "There would always have sort of been some questions as to why I didn't go back."

How and whether it will work is an open question. Though Hoffner says he's not out for revenge and is willing to work with the same officials who suspended and then fired him, Christopher Madel, his civil attorney, declined comment when asked whether the school had offered a settlement to preclude his return.

Hoffner says he doesn't have plans for a lawsuit "at this time; I'm confident we're not (contemplating one)." But Madel warned he would be watching closely to see how Hoffner is treated by school officials.

When he announced on Tuesday he would return to Minnesota State-Mankato, Hoffner said he had not received an apology from university officials. Later that afternoon, one came in the form of a statement released by the school. President Richard Davenport and Buisman both apologized in a private meeting with Hoffner on Wednesday.

"I appreciated them extending themselves and doing that," Hoffner says, adding that he told them he hoped he "didn't cause them any ill will or harm throughout the process."

Buisman, who hired Hoffner in 2008, admits to some "initial awkwardness in reacclimating," but says he's ready to work with Hoffner again.

"It's important for us to move past that and to re-establish a professional working relationship … as quickly as possible," Buisman says. "We had an excellent discussion about strategies for both of us to get the focus back on football and to let him re-establish himself as the head football coach."

That's part of the issue, of course. While Hoffner was in limbo, the football program moved forward under Aaron Keen, who was Hoffner's offensive coordinator. Serving as acting head coach and then interim head coach, Keen led the Mavericks to 24 wins and two appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs.

Last week players briefly revolted, saying they wanted to play for Keen. In a meeting that lasted nearly two hours last Thursday morning, several players asked whether Hoffner, who was known as a stern, aloof coach — a contrast to Keen — had or would change. Hoffner, who says he re-evaluated his coaching style while away from the game, told them he would embrace the culture that has evolved during Keen's tenure. Keen told them, and then reiterated publicly, that he's committed to working with Hoffner to continue building the program.

"I want to give these young men 100 percent of my love and passion," Hoffner says. "Hopefully it's reciprocated, and we can move this program forward. That's the entire goal."

For now, everyone is saying all the right things about working together. Hoffner insists any rifts can be mended — or at least, that he's willing to do his part — and says returning to his old position was important in attempting to "heal the injury" inflicted on him and his family.

"I think we've come full circle and that this is allowing closure," Hoffner says. "I'm ready to put a stake in it. I'm ready to try to get back to some normalcy here at Mankato. … I think in time and with everybody's ability to heal, I'm looking forward to moving forward in my life."